What do you know about flexible mobile SEO strategies? Despite the fact that this topic has been trending lately and has been an integral element of search engine optimisation for a while, many businesses are still struggling to understand and use mobile optimisation, which typically leads to missing out on a wealth of opportunities. This article is aimed at helping you understand its basics and get on the fast track to ensuring high rankings!
What Is Mobile SEO and Why Does It Matter?
Search engine optimisation for mobile is the subset of regular SEO that focuses on optimising your website and content to rank high in results on devices with smaller screens, such as smartphones and tablets. It typically aims for two primary goals:
- To match Google’s standards and requirements for high positions in search engine result pages (SERPs).
- To improve user experience (UX) for all screen sizes.
If you wonder what it’s made of, this form of optimisation shares the core best practices with regular SEO. However, it also involves steps and approaches tailored specifically to the experience of small-screen users.
Why Does It Matter?
There are two big reasons why it’s crucial to implement this form of optimisation in 2025. Firstly, Google has long introduced its revolutionary mobile-first indexing, which implies that desktop site versions will no longer get crawled and indexed. Simply put, your rankings both for smartphones and desktops will be determined based on the mobile version of your site.
Secondly, we can’t ignore the growing usage of smartphones among consumers. In 2024, as many as 97.8% of users in the world reported accessing the web via their smartphones, as opposed to only 58.3% who reported using the desktop for this purpose.
These numbers indicate the huge share of business opportunities you might be missing out on if you don’t understand and implement flexible mobile SEO strategies. So, let’s explore it step by step.
Implementing Responsive Design
Positive UX always begins with the design and functionality of your site, and how well they satisfy user needs. The same is true here, and there are several ways to make your website work good for all screen sizes:
Separate URLs
This tactic implies building two different versions of your website that are located on separate URLs. If you use it, your server will detect the user’s device when they enter and automatically redirect them to the right site version.
There are two issues with this method from an SEO point of view: 1) redirects may hinder loading speed and hence, UX; 2) if you don’t tag your separate URLs correctly, Google can consider them as duplicate content, which will affect your indexing and rankings.
Dynamic Serving
If you implement this approach, your site’s URL will remain the same for desktop and smartphone users. However, dynamic serving will recognise the device of every particular user and deliver different HTML code depending on it.
While this method can work, it can negatively impact your UX because no one is 100% immune to an error when a user gets sent the wrong code and ends up on a website version that doesn’t match their device.
Responsive Design
This is the preferred way to serve your website to mobile users. In a nutshell, this type of design automatically adjusts different elements of the page to a particular user’s screen. At the same time, your URL and HTML code remain the same. Also, compared to mobile-friendly design, which is simply a scaled-down version of the same page on desktop, responsive design ensures maximum convenience and UX.
Optimising Page Loading Speed
Slow loading speed is frustrating to people, affecting UX and conversions. Respectively, it’s one of the direct factors affecting your rankings. To improve the overall site speed, you need to optimise file sizes, reduce redirects, etc. Additionally, apart from the overall page speed, Google considers a set of performance metrics obtained based on real-world usage data—Core Web Vitals.
You can conduct a Core Web Vitals audit in Google Search Console and compare your results to the ranges specified by Google.
Here’s a brief definition of every metric included and how to improve it:
- LCP—The time needed to render the largest visible content element. If this metric needs improvement, begin with optimising the sizes of your largest visual elements, such as videos and images. Additionally, consider implementing caching and leveraging a content delivery network (CDN).
- INP—How the page generally responds to user activity (e.g., a click or tap), and how much time it takes. To enhance this indicator, you need to optimise the main thread work and JavaScript and reduce the time your pages take to render visual updates.
- CLS—The overall sum of individual layout shift scores for each unexpected shift through the full lifespan of the page. You can enhance it by prioritising essential scripts’ loading, optimising JavaScript, and minimising the number of external plugins (if applicable).
Adding Structured Data
Structured data helps you attribute the right meanings (tags) to different elements on your page, which eventually will help search engines understand and crawl your content better. As a result, your site will appear with additional attributes in SERPs, for example:
- The number of reviews, ratings, and prices for your products.
- Location, time, and other details of an event you’re holding.
- The rating, number of votes, cooking time, and ingredients for recipes, etc.
These details that appear next to your site in SERPs can tell users more about what they will find on your page and thus, enhance click-through rates. Besides, results with structured data can’t help but drive attention, which is why using this strategy is good for standing out from the competition.
You can either use Schema.org or Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to implement this tactic.
Optimising for Local Search
A big share of smartphone users access the web using their gadgets on the go and, often, to quickly look up something nearby, let’s say a store, cafe, or restaurant. It’s a fast and convenient way to explore nearby businesses that you need right now, and for businesses, this means the need to implement local SEO.
Doing so will enable you to appear in local results and on the map in relevant searches. To do this, you need to follow these tips:
- Target geo-specific long-tail keywords that align with your business and location.
- Create your business profile in Google Business and other local directories.
- Optimise your listings in directories with target mobile keywords.
- Encourage feedback and manage reviews for social proof.
- Create local pages and content that aligns with the needs and intent of your prospects.
- Build relationships with reporters, bloggers, influencers, and other businesses in your area for local citations.
You can simplify all these processes with 360-degree SEO platforms, such as SEMrush, that offer features for local optimisation. You can also explore the best SEMrush alternatives to find tools that are more cost-effective and functional for you.
Optimising for Voice Search
Apart from looking for something nearby, people frequently use their smartphones to perform fast and convenient voice searches. If you want to rank for them, you need a site that performs quickly and seamlessly because it’s one of the essential factors for high mobile SEO rankings and optimisation for local results, because many voice queries also look for local businesses.
Additionally, you need to optimise your content for voice-based requests:
- Target relevant long-form keywords. Often, they will come in the form of a question and have a more conversational character. For example, “Where to get coffee to go near me” instead of simply “coffee near me.”
- Switch to a more conversational tone in your content. Don’t hesitate to use questions and direct, short answers as if you were having an actual conversation with your prospect.
Leveraging Mobile App SEO Optimisation
If you have a mobile app, optimising it for search should also be a part of your overall strategy. After all, you need to know that app stores, as well as searches for apps in a browser, all work according to the general SEO principles. That is, you can get your application noticed and downloaded if you optimise it right.
The baseline SEO mobile apps tactics include:
- Target keywords popular inside the store where your app is offered.
- Optimise the application’s description and title with selected queries.
- Add high-quality and attention-grabbing visual assets.
- Encourage reviews from existing users to have additional votes of trust.
Measuring the Success
After implementing all the aforementioned flexible mobile SEO strategies, don’t forget to implement ongoing performance tracking to see how your strategy works for you. Use analytical solutions to collect real-time insights and assess your baseline metrics, such as rankings, conversions, and so on, and make strategic improvements to achieve greater outcomes in the long run.
Conclusion
Without any doubt, making your site work and look good for smartphone and tablet users is pivotal today when nearly 98% of people use small-screen devices to browse the web. It’s also no less important to optimise your site for mobile search so that these users find you easily.
After reading this guide, you have a list of the basic flexible mobile SEO strategies that work best for shining bright in SERPs. Use the tips and insights you now have to make the most out of your SEO and ensure business scalability!
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